Connected cars: When is the breakthrough coming?

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From all the announcements of connected cars at CES and the Detroit Auto Show in the past month, you might think the smart car that streams the internet, finds top-rated restaurants, and provides you with great infotainment is arriving this spring. The reality is less dazzling. What you’ve been reading about are training-wheel steps that are mainly more ways to stream music, and a lot of the time that’s only if you bring your own smartphone. These first steps let the car’s controls manage your device, which could already stream music to the car as long as your ride uses any technology newer than the compact disc.

The working, evolving definition of a connected car is a vehicle with internet access that can be shared with the navigation and infotainment systems, as well as with the passengers inside. It can also mean any kind of voice or data pipe (telematics) in the car that communicates on your behalf if you’re in a crash, such as GM’s OnStar, or you left the keys inside, again. A permanent, in-car connection means the automobile can talk with your smartphone and you can learn “Where did I park?” or “How charged is the battery pack on my plug-in hybrid?” with a simple app command or text message.

There’s a third, future-looking definition of connected car that means your car communicates over WiFi (probably) with other vehicles nearby in order to learn who’s braking hard, swerving into another lane, or failing to maintain a safe following distance. This is called dedicated short-range communications, or DSRC. These communications could also coordinate on adaptive cruise control settings — if several cars ahead brake at once, not just one, your car might not just slow down but alert you that there may be an accident ahead or debris in the road. Think next decade for the advent of DSRC in the connected car, not next month.

What’s coming this year: music, music, music

2013 announcements, so far, mostly tie music services to car dashboards via your smartphone, with examples including the Chrysler UConnect Access Via Mobile for Aha, iHeart Radio, Pandora and Slacker. Harman’s Aha aggregates thousands of radio stations and podcasts, adds manageability, and works with Ford, Honda, Porsche, and Subaru as well as Chrysler. Ford Sync now reads news feeds through Kaliki. All of this is nice, but most car-buyers will think of this as “streaming music coming through my phone” rather than “OMG, the connected car!”

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What i want: The ability to use my phone, hands-free of course, to dial the license plate number of a car and tell the driver to stop driving like an idiot.

hatori10

awesome… someone.. SOMEONE!! PLEASE HACK MY CAR!! PLEASE!!! It has an ip.. let’s go!
What are ya waiting for? OHH!! For it to be connected.

JDRahman

Great, a car that needs to be rebooted.

I reboot my PC, Notebook, Tablet, Phone and Smart TV. In the case of the TV, it means unplugging it from the wall outlet. However, none of these things crashing is going to get me or others injured.

In the case of cars though, a software glitch might be deadly. There better not be a stupid disclaimer with no liabilities towards the software developers.

Because if my car has an accident because of a software bug, I am going to find the developers and run them over, accidentally.

http://profile.yahoo.com/6A67VV5HRKSCETZWQI2GAN7BT4 ed

You guys know these systems are not in any way connected to stuff like your throttle position sensor right? So if these crash, it has literally no effect on how your car drives, aside from no more NAV or something.

raven49

The connected car as an entertainment center doesn’t do much for me. We have Satellite radio, music from smartphones through the cars stereo, Other devices provide directions, traffic information plus things we all may or may not need. The article does allude to the most significant possibility where communications from one vehicle to another puts some predictability into traffic flow. What we don’t know now is a path or adjustment that someone several cars ahead are making – if that information was available to an intelligent system it could be used to avoid emergency braking. To do this, everyone will have to have it or some form of it.
For those concerned about systems rebooting, the “Blue Screen of Death” has much more meaning. Software development has different requirements for different applications. The software required for collision avoidance systems on transport aircraft has to be a little more robust than an iPhone or Android app. If your restaurant is on the other side of the street, it’s not a deal breaker.
If you’re zipping down the highway and want to be 5 feet behind the car in front, you’re car will need to know the intent of the car in front. That is going to require two way communication between vehicles and lots of other software. Manufacturers and other institutions are working on this type of thing but it isn’t trivial. Lots of progress is held up by those suffering from the NIH (Not Invented Here) Syndrome.
When this might happen depends on a lot of things. Equipage – everyone has to have it or a component that lets them participate. An early implementation might require dedicated lanes – we all know how good politicians are for making rational decisions. The ones we have now are letting our country’s infrastructure deteriorate as it is. Good luck with them.

Olga Peluso

If you think Cindy`s story is impossible…, last pay check my cousins best friend basically also earned $7391 putting in eighteen hours a week an their house and the’re co-worker’s mother-in-law`s neighbour done this for 10-months and easily made over $7391 in there spare time from their pc. follow the steps here… jump15.comCHECK IT OUT

Olga Peluso

If you think Cindy`s story is impossible…, last pay check my cousins best friend basically also earned $7391 putting in eighteen hours a week an their house and the’re co-worker’s mother-in-law`s neighbour done this for 10-months and easily made over $7391 in there spare time from their pc. follow the steps here… jump15.comCHECK IT OUT

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